Weeks 8-20

Since that first day at our 8 week appointment, this has been an amazing journey! From meeting a set of identical twin sisters who are part of my community bible study to God revealing to my mother in law that they were twin girls before we even knew they were twins, it’s all been pretty amazing. Here they are at 12 weeks:

They are such a miracle! The realization of the arrival of two babies instead of one was starting to hit me hard. We have always wanted to have 4 kids, 2 boys and 2 girls is perfect, but we didn’t exactly expect to get there quite so soon and the prospect of having 4 kids under 5 years old is a little daunting. This was a period of trusting that God gave us these babies when He did for a reason. The hardest part on my husband was jumping from a family of 4 to a family of 6 and the financial pressure that puts on him. But, we can continue to see how God has provided so much for these babies every step of the way and I can only imagine the special purpose he has for their lives.

Throughout this first trimester I was very nauseus, unable to eat very much, and had many food aversions. It was kind of miserable from that stand point, when you want to eat but you can’t. I was wishing I felt this way when I was not pregnant because I would get so thin! Thankfully, the closer I got to week 12, the more I was able to eat and look at/be in the same room with food. So that was fantastic!

As soon as my doctors found out that I was having mono/di twins (2 amniotic sacs, 1 placenta) they scheduled my ultrasounds and appointments for every two weeks. There are some risks with identical twins sharing a placenta that include twin to twin transfer syndrome. This is where one twin can get more blood flow and nourishment than the other twin and both twins suffer. It is a very serious condition, so they wanted to monitor me closely. We are so blessed that the girls never had a problem with that! They have both always had plenty of fluid and been very healthy girls! They are continuing even now at 30 weeks to monitor me for this.

At my week 16 ultrasound, my perinatologist told me that he thought they were girls, but to wait until I told anyone because he wanted to make sure at the 18 week appointment. Of course I told Josh and we were both SO excited, but couldn’t wait to get it confirmed. I also had this little feeling of sadness that I will never have another baby boy which I did not expect. Baby boys are SO sweet and what am I going to do with two girls?!? The drama, the emotions, the sassiness… I have NO experience with these things! It’s an understatement to say that Josh was completely over the moon about having two baby girls! They already have him wrapped around their tiny fingers and they’re not even born yet! 🙂

For me, there’s just so much that comes with having daughters. Boys are so easy, feed them and let them run around and they’re happy! I pray that I can be a good mom to girls and to not be too hard on them or make them feel like they don’t measure up to my expectations. Girls are complicated, I often don’t even understand grown women. I am, however, getting excited about dressing them up in all things frilly!

Our 18 week ultrasound arrived and Josh went with me. We were confirmed- twin girls!! And had already chosen the names Vivian and Violet. We planned a gender reveal party where my aunt Brenda made these beautiful gender reveal cakes! Everyone was so excited to find out that we are team PINK!